Forage from Trees and Grasses of Silvipasture System in Degraded Land of Semiarid India

Rainfed agro-ecosystem has a distinct place in Indian Agriculture, occupying 67% of the cultivated area and supporting 65% of the livestock population (Venkateswarlu, 2005). The silvipasture systems involving suitable multi-purpose trees specially fodder trees and range grass species provide resilience by ensuring continued and multiple outputs such as, forage, fuelwood, fodder, fibre and industrial raw material, besides other positive environmental effects. Incorporation of fodder trees with grasses is perceived as a climate change-resilient cropping system for farmers linking climate change mitigation with adaptation (Mbow et al., 2014). The synergies of tree-grass association need to be explored and exploited by evaluating different fodder tree species with combination of grass species under degraded land and climatic condition. In many low input agro-ecosystems grasses are intercropped with legumes since legumes have an importance as a primary source of nitrogen (Thomsen and Haugaard-Nielsen, 2008). This study was planned to develop a silvipasture system with suitable tree and grass species on degraded land of semi arid condition to ensure the availability of quality fodder round the year